What the model assumes about Denmark

This page collects every Denmark-specific number the model starts from: when the state pension begins and how it behaves, what healthcare and long-term care cost, what a retired household spends, and how tax is worked out. The planner prefills each of them, and you can change any of them during setup. Amounts are in DKK at today's prices, and the same data files drive the simulation itself, so a figure you read here is the figure your plan runs on.

The state pension

Starts at 65 to 75, depending on the year you were born. It is 65 if you were born in 1953 or earlier, 66 if you were born in 1954, 67 if you were born from 1955 to 1962, 68 if you were born from 1963 to 1966, 69 if you were born from 1967 to 1970, 70 if you were born from 1971 to 1974, 71 if you were born from 1975 to 1978, 72 if you were born from 1979 to 1982, 73 if you were born from 1983 to 1986, 74 if you were born from 1987 to 1995, and 75 if you were born in 1996 or later. For people born after 1974 no law has set the age yet. Today the law says 70 for everyone born from 1971, and it is raised every five years in step with life expectancy; the ages shown for later birth years are what the legal formula gives on the official forecast, so they may change. The planner uses the age for your year of birth both as your default retirement age and as the start age of your state pension.

Source: Styrelsen for Arbejdsmarked og Rekruttering (star.dk) (2026). See it.

With inflation, plus 0.5 points a year. The state pension is raised each year in line with wage growth measured two years earlier, with a small deduction of up to 0.3 percentage points in years with decent pay rises. Over time the pension therefore keeps pace with wages rather than only with prices.

Source: Finansministeriet / Retsinformation (2025). See it.

What a surviving partner keeps: 35% of the deceased's pension. Denmark pays no ongoing survivor's pension from the state pension. Instead the survivor is treated as single, which raises their monthly pension supplement by roughly a third of what the deceased was receiving. The simulation adds 35% of the deceased's pension to the survivor's own from the first death. That assumes the survivor gets the full pension supplement, which needs little other income; a survivor with a sizeable private pension gains less.

Source: Beskaeftigelsesministeriet (2026). See it.

How the simulation pays and raises pensions: the income section of the technical reference. What changes at the first death: the couples section.

Healthcare

DKK 8,271 a year for each person, at 65. Health spending outside long-term care: visits, medicines, glasses, dental work and any premiums you pay yourself. The planner starts from this figure and moves it as you age. The source published DKK 13,233. The published figure counts a whole household, so we divided it down to one person.

Source: Danmarks Statistik (2024). See it.

How the model ages this figure: the expenses section of the technical reference.

Long-term care

DKK 188,400 a year out of your own pocket if you need residential care. The state funds the care. You pay a capped fee plus your room and meals.

Source: Borne-, Aeldre- og Boligministeriet (Denmark) (2026). See it.

The model does not add the whole charge on top of your budget: the groceries, and for renters the housing, that a care home replaces are credited back. How the care model works.

What a retired household spends

DKK 9,750 + DKK 2,763/mo for one person, DKK 18,469 + DKK 6,479/mo for a couple. Essential spending plus everything-else spending, each month, excluding housing and healthcare, which the planner asks about separately. The prefills come from Danmarks Statistik Forbrugsundersogelsen, StatBank FU03 2022, enlig 60 ar og over uden born / 2 voksne hovedperson 60+ uden born (annual DKK per household incl VAT, current prices).

Source: Danmarks Statistik Forbrugsundersogelsen, StatBank FU03 2022, enlig 60 ar og over uden born / 2 voksne hovedperson 60+ uden born (annual DKK per household incl VAT, current prices) (2026). See it.

What each budget covers and how spending changes with age: the expenses section of the technical reference.

Tax

The model recalculates your tax bill for every simulated year, using Denmark's own scales, allowances and thresholds for the 2026 tax year, last read on 2026-07-29. The answers are checked against their rate data. Each partner in a couple is taxed separately, on their own income.

How Denmark taxes a retirement plan lists every figure, the tax office page each one came from, and everything the model does not do there. Accounts in Denmark describes each kind of account and pension the planner offers there: when money can come out, how it is taxed, and where we read the rules.

Everything we read

Every publication behind the pension, care, healthcare and budget figures above. The tax page carries its own references, one per figure.